A feature in five days - Day One
So, Day One of my latest project: a feature script which has to be finished in five days (by Sunday, I’m not working on Saturday).
How did I do?
Well, my target was 18 pages a day and I managed …
10.
Okay, 9. One line on page 10 doesn’t count.
Why so few?
Well, because I spent most of the day doing this:
Isn’t it pretty?
- Pink = romance
- Green = the sub plot
- Yellow = his complication
- Blue = her complication
- White = miscellaneous plot stuff
Where am I after 10 pages (alright, 9)?
See the top row? The first card? See where it splits from white to pink?
About there.
I’m guessing I’m going to have to trim that a little.
While I was spending most of the day pinning pretty colours to a notice board, I kept thinking about Arnold Rimmer in the first Red Dwarf book. Rimmer used to spend so long designing his revision timetables he didn’t have enough time to do any revision and therefore, failed his exams.
Not the most pleasant thought to have when you’re working to a deadline, but it is a very pretty board.
My new, revised schedule is 81 pages in 4 days.
20 and 1/4 pages a day.
Easy.
Wednesday, 10 October, 2007 at 9:49 am
If you’ve got your outline down (and it is a very pretty outline) 20 pages per day’s doable, if that’s pretty much all you do. I do a similar coloured outline thingy, but in Excel. More or less geeky? You decide.
Wednesday, 10 October, 2007 at 10:00 am
[waves pompoms]
Phill Phill Phill! Rah Rah Rah!
Of course, you have to imagine me wearing a cheerleaders outfit for the full, brain-melting effect.
Good luck!
Wednesday, 10 October, 2007 at 10:00 am
‘ <- Here is the missing apostrophe for that last comment
Wednesday, 10 October, 2007 at 10:59 am
Stop reading these replies and get to writing! *rolls eyes*
Wednesday, 10 October, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Ohhh very pretty board Phill! I want one just like it!
Wednesday, 10 October, 2007 at 3:30 pm
I’d love to reply, but Eleanor might tell me off again.
Wednesday, 10 October, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Have your central character attacked by a lion in the high street.
Wednesday, 10 October, 2007 at 10:13 pm
Have you been reading my notes?
Thursday, 11 October, 2007 at 10:49 pm
[...] screenplay in one week. The man is insane. Virtual rubber-neckers can follow his progress so far: Day One and Day [...]
Thursday, 18 October, 2007 at 4:13 pm
[...] Jobbing Scriptwriter journals what it’s like to write a feature script in five days. [...]
Saturday, 20 October, 2007 at 3:09 pm
[...] Completed the rewrites to the five day feature, they only took half a day. Not because I was moving at lightning speed, but purely because there [...]
Friday, 4 January, 2008 at 1:23 pm
[...] Okay, so it’s not quite as bad as last time - I’m not writing a feature in five days. [...]
Monday, 7 January, 2008 at 6:06 pm
[...] but that’s not true. I’ve already got a list of notes to action for last year’s five day film - minor little things for the most part; and there’s another feature script for a different [...]